This statue of Ban Jelačić, the 19th-century ban (viceroy or governor) who led Croatian troops into an unsuccessful battle with Hungary in the hope of winning more autonomy for his people, stood in the main square from 1866 until 1947, when Tito ordered its removal because it was too closely linked with Croatian nationalism. Franjo Tuđman’s government dug it up out of storage in 1990 and returned it to the square, where it stands today.
